dbums 8

D bums 8

Kerouac p.196

“ ‘What are you doing?’
‘Oh, we just decided to take our clothes off.’”

I love how in this quote, when Ray asks Alvah and George what they are doing, they answer him so nonchalantly that they just took their clothes off. They speak of it as it were nothing, yet Ray is asking them seriously. This really shows how Ray has still not become totally comfortable with nudity. Ever since that first time with the orgy Japhy’s, Ray has felt a little uncomfortable around naked people, although he tries to hide it, and does quite well.


Kerouac p. 188

“One night I was mediating in such perfect stillness that two mosquitoes came and sat on each of my cheekbones and stayed there a long time without biting and then went away without biting.”

This quote really spoke to me about how far Ray has come. At the begging of the book he was lost, but now he is such a good Buddhist, the when he meditates, he is completely one with nature. He was able to meditate in such stillness that not only did the mosquitoes not notice him and bite him, but also they did not spook and fly away. Both of these actions of the mosquitoes really show how far Ray has come.